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At the Roman Catholic achools there were 811 pupils on the roll, 790 were present at the Inspector's annual visits, and fourteen certificates of proficiency and twenty-eight certificates of competency were awarded. For the coveted prize of the primary school, the proficiency certificate, 875 pupils presented themselves. 349, or 40 per cent, were successful, while 263, or 30 per cent., obtained certificates of competency. The relatively small number gaining the certificate as compared with previous years is accounted for by the Department's raising the standard of qualification, candidates being now required, in order to secure the certificate, to obtain 60 per cent, of the aggregate marks, and at least 40 per cent, in Engliah and arithmetic aeverally. The new regulation, while it may possibly be the means of postponing, with little advantage to themselves, the admission of some pupils to secondary classes, will certainly tend to increase the efficiency of secondary departments. Touching the subjects of instruction we observe that reading, the most important of all, is uniformly satisfactory, sometimes indeed surprisingly good. The effect of the increased attention given, for some yeara paat to oral expression is now beginning to manifest itself in every department of school-work, and not least in reading, to which it has in large measure contributed the attributes of fluency and natural utterance. Not a little of the improvement in this subject is of course directly' due to the new methods of instruction. Teachers have occasionally been taken to task by parents because the infants do not know their letters. This, however, is not now the test of progress, which is to be judged by the extent to which the children can express themselves orally and in writing, modelling, and drawing, using meanwhile words standing for things with which they are familiar. A know-ledge of the letters, reached by a process essentially educative and interesting, will come in good time. At our annua! visits we required the children of all clasaea to read booka at aight, with results for the most part eminently aatiafactory. Spelling, as was to be expected, is somewhat less accurate than it was in the days when each subject was exclusively studied for its own sake. Some useful, if not really educative, work might be done in the direction of teaching the principles of the subject as apart from mere word-building ; and more might be done in the direction of teaching incidentally the spelling of the words used in connection with nature atudy, agriculture, and physical geography, and indeed with every other subject in the school course. The accurate spelling of a term may not be a clue to its meaning, but with the comprehension of the meaning of a term there usually goes accurate apelling. Should teachers keep lists of such words we shall be glad to include a certain number of them in our tests at the annual visits, it being of course understood that the teaching is incidental and not systematic. Composition is being taught on the whole on rational lines. No subject enters more largely into the warp and woof of school-work —a sufficient justification for the large amount of time devoted to it. Some dissatisfaction was expressed with the Department's tests in English for Standards V and VI, and it must be admitted that now and again there were put questions which in expression seemed to part company with strictly primary work. The conversion of phrases into clauses and vice versa maybe a serviceable exercise if the language be understood; but, if not, the result may be extremely bizarre and yet the answer be correct. Not all the shortcomings of many of the pupils in English are to be set down to the nature of the Department'a tests. In not a few schools we found that the subject had not been so earnestly grappled with as its importance warrants. Our pupils should be able net merely to express themselves readily and well, but also to understand the merits and demerits of various modes of expression, and it is the power to do this that the study of formal composition secures. Handwriting, though sometimes exceedingly good, is like spelling, exposed to the risk of deterioration. Not that modern methods necessarily involve less rational treatment. On the contrary, it should be possible, in view of the large amount of handwork done in the lower classes, to treat the subject more effectively than ever. What is required in order to avert disaster in the upper classes is patient insistence at all times on careful work. In connection with this subject there are two matters that claim the serious attention of teachers, and these are the pupil's posture while writing and his method of holding the pen. Too often both are alike bad. We must confess to no little disappointment with the results in arithmetic in Standards V and VI. The tests were admittedly fair, and yet the subject was a fruitful source of disaster to many a pupil seeking the proficiency certificate. It is perfectly clear that the teaching of the subject is not all that it should be in the lower classes, and that many teachers set themselves too low a standard throughout. Short methods are either neglected or eschewed, with the result that, for instance, a sum which could easily be worked in a line or so by the application of decimals, is made the object of a preliminary transformation into vulgar fractions. There is again in some schools an omission which is always fatal : arithmetic is not correlated with other subjects in such a way that its principles are made to live by being realised in practice. Much really good work has been done in some of the branches of drawing. In some cases scale and geometrical drawing have not received the attention they deserve. In their schemes for the present year due provision will doubtless be made by teachers for the inclusion of these parts of the subject. Nature study has some ardent votaries, the women teachers —to their credit be it said —taking the lead in this respect. The teaching of elementary science in primary schools and departments is by no means on a satisfactory footing. In what may be described as city schools, where the teaching of agriculture is sometimes impossible, the teachers would do well to take up the subject of physical measurements which, while it lends itself to correlation with cardboard-work and woodwork, furnishes an admirable training injaccuraey, so essential to a youth'a auccess in actual employment. The teaching of phyaical and mathematical geography on the linea indicated in the syllabus has been by some regarded as not merely difficult, but well nigh impossible. Such a view is, perhaps, inci-